The weekly overview of our homestead this week

Went into the gentle beehive and found:

• the hole in the lid over which we had a screen had been filled with propelis
• I removed the screen to allow for airflow because the bees have been bearding at night
• The top hive has about two frames that the bees have been working which is not much different from two weeks ago.

Gardens:

• The baby squash plants in the garden looked a little sad so we added fish fertilizer
• The kiwis are climbing the walls of the greenhouse - need male plants!!
• The raspberries are ripe!
• The garlic needs to be harvested - and I did, but the elephant garlic has not toothed out yet so we are giving it another week.
• Sweet potato slips were transplanted and we put a new round of cucumber seeds out on Thursday - cukes have germinated so I am watering it and the transplanted peppers while they acclimate to outdoor life
• Getting yellow squash from the volunteer and plan to choose one fruit to keep and tie a ribbon on it
• Let the weed fight begin!

Ducks:

• They look like they are trying to fly and they enjoy hanging out under the truck on the blacktop for some reason
• They went in easily last night at about 8pm. The rest of the week we've been chasing them in earlier and it has been a struggle
• Duck coop is finished but the ducks seem uncomfortable in there. They formerly have had a lower roof over their heads so I plan to move a smaller duckhouse in there to hopefully give them added feelings of security.

Chickens

• Nothing to report - our buff orpington s four years old and beginning to look ratty

General observations:

The garden would do better if I weeded it more and the raspberries have once again taken over the blueberries. I need to find a new place for the blueberries. We really have trouble keeping the yard trimmed and are thinking of adding goats. Flea bug pressure is heavy for us this year but the Japanese beetles have not yet located us. The gardens are staying fairly well hydrated below the surface this year, but I think adding a heavy layer of manure and much will be in order for the fall redo.

We still have not recovered from the heavy chicken tractor mistake. We had a friend make us a chicken tractor that is predator proof and it is so heavy that two of us can "sort of" move the thing. The ducks were in it until last night and now it is parked in a terrible location and I can't move it without a 4wd vehicle. Still looking for a solution for this - even dismantling the darn thing is about impossible. Burn it?